6 Questions About the Target Audience of Your Website

Before the launch of that new website, have you considered having a second look at the content you’ve implemented? Making sure your website caters to your target audience with the right mix of information and relevance will convert more visitors to customers and keep others coming back for more.

Having a website is great, but it’s not enough.  The spread and extent of your online market is governed by how well your site content matches your visitors’ expectations – also known as usability.  Defining the target audience and their needs is an important factor in usability and in increasing the loyalty on your site.

6 Questions to ask yourself about the target audience of your website:

Who is your target audience?

Everyone, right?  While we’d all love to sell to everyone, there should be a definitive theme of who the ideal customer is – that is your target audience.  Examples of good target audience definitions are “post college health nuts” or “middle income families with small children”.  Defining your target audience helps you answer the next question…

What does your target audience expect to learn from your website?

If you know you your target audience is, you can draw conclusions or better determine what they are looking for.  In keeping with the above examples, the post-college health nut would like to see a calorie breakdown of your new breakfast bar line – let them see it.

Does your customer know how your process works, or how to go about doing business with you?

If I am a middle income family with a small child, how will you help my child learn to read after I send you my hard-earned money?  A customer may believe in your product or service, but if they don’t know enough about your process, they may decide to do business with someone more transparent.

Have you anticipated most of your customers’ questions and answered them?

You want to keep your visitor from going to the competitor’s website to find answers.  It also helps build your credibility with a customer and lets them know you’re the right business for them. Anticipating the questions of your potential customer puts you a step ahead of most of your competition.

Are the features and benefits of doing business with you clear?

If you don’t explain them to me, I might never know.  Try to steer clear of assuming your client has an even basic knowledge of your industry and make very clear the features and benefits of hiring you.

What can you do make your website more “sticky”?

… that is keep your target audience on your site longer in hopes of developing their trust and converting them to a customer.  Do you have a blog or other news outlet with frequently updated content?  Or a cool application / tool that aligns with your business?  (Think mortgage calculator on real estate websites).  These keep people on your site longer and help you develop a report with your visitor.

The ease of navigation and convenience in finding information are key areas of catering to your target audience.  Don’t require your customer to guess or assume anything from your website, spoon feed them in a relevant and engaging way for your small business success.

Let us know some of the target audience strategies you’ve used and how they’ve worked for you.

Posted in marketing strategy, online marketing, small business, website marketing